视频: Isaac Stern: Speech; From Mao to Mozart (Ending)
by Bob Choat
| What is life all about? How do we become real winners in this game of life? I believe that all of us should live our life with passion and purpose. To really be all that you want to be and to help this world be all that it can be each one of us must live on purpose. Just look at the great accomplishments of the past. These were created by people who were passionate about what they did---and they sensed a greater purpose to what they did too. It could be in business, in sports, in the medical field, as an attorney, as a social worker, or whatever area the passion lies. It's not about the money involved or even the social status one might get from it. It's putting our heart into it is what counts. One story that struck me occurred in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, GA. It was the final day of the Women's Team Gymnastics and the United States team was running neck-to-neck with the Russians and the Chinese teams for the team gold medal. It was the last event for the United States women the vault. One by one each of our women did a great vault. They did two vaults with the best of the two used in the final scoring. It came down to the last of our vaulters. She was told that she needed to score high in order for the United States to win the team gold. On her first vault she injured herself, falling, causing a severe sprain on one ankle. She was told that she did not have to do her second vault which the team would settle for the silver medal if necessary. She made a decision that would define what courage, passion, and purpose was all about. She decided that she would do the second vault. She ran down the runway, jumped onto the springboard, planted her hands on the pommel horse, twisting and turning in the air, she landed on one leg AND STUCK IT! She scored high and the United States won the team gold. Later it was learned that she did not need to do the second vault, that the team had already won the gold. But Kerrie Strugg had at the time the passion and purpose to do what it took to win. Her whole life of training for this one event was what gave her life meaning at the time. She did what she had to do to be a winner. And she proudly wears the gold medal that she won that day. Do you have that kind of passion, that kind of purpose, to become a winner? If you do not, then you may not be in the right field, the right career. When I studied what made some people successful and others not it came down to whether somebody was passionate and had purpose in the area that they choose to focus on. Most of them were passionate from an early age. Thomas Edison tinkered and created and came up with new ideas before his teenage years. He had a deep desire to find out how things worked and to improve up them. What was in your early life that caused you to work hard at, but was more like fun? What is it that you do now that you work hard at, but is more like fun? Do you do things that take you well into the morning hours that you can't get enough of? And I'm not talking about partying either. Some people make a good living off of parties, though. I've come across many business people that complain that their business is just not working or that they just can't seem to get interested in it - that they would rather be doing something else. Many people in their career feel the same way. Are you one of them? Have you ever had some far off dream of doing something else? Maybe it was something from your childhood that you dreamed of doing. If you are in a career for the money or maybe someone told you that you should do this or that or maybe you followed your parents into the same field, but you'd rather be doing something else. Most people feel that way. I should know - I was there too. Another ingredient that must be present is desire. Part of our being is to have the desire to do something ?to accomplish something. We all have this internal mechanism that will drive us to succeed. Without desire we will never, ever accomplish any goal or dream we may have. The desire must be burning. That's why going after our passion and purpose will enable us to have that kind of desire. Just like Kerrie Strugg, who won an Olympic gold medal and others who win everyday ?whether in business, helping homeless people, winning a court case, discovering a medical breakthrough ?they all had a passion and a purpose, with the desire to get there. You must have this driving force, too. So as I write this, I implore you to find your passion and purpose, develop a plan to reach it, and do it with desire. Only then can you know what real success means and what it is like to be a winner. So you be a winner too. |
